Null and Void
by Justice Asunder
Summary: The Prophet of the Void Malzahar brings tidings of doom to all of Runterra, but only one man understands how much danger the world truly is in. Kassadin, the only man to see into the Void and retain his humanity, is the only hope of holding back the malevolent beasts of the Void. Rated M for intense violence, strong language and adult content.
1. The Prophet

Null and Void

By Joseph Milam

Chapter One

The Prophet

The flaring sun blistered the endless dunes and pits of the Shurima Desert, the dunes that seemed to rise and fall like the waves of an angry ocean in a howling gale of fury. The strong winds blasted streams of sand across the air and kicked up small rocks and pebbles and threw them in every direction. These uncharted and ancient deserts were avoided for a reason. Some said the sands were alive and fed off of the flesh of those who wandered to far into its midst. Others said the sands were only there to conceal a monstrous beast who hunted and killed adventurers and travelers alike without mercy.

What ever the sands concealed it did not matter to him. A young man, born in a small village bordering the harshest part of the desert, gifted with the power of prophecy. His brown hair flew wildly to the side as a gust of wind and sand flew at him with unnatural fury. Underneath a cloth covering his face lied a mouth set in stone with an expression of grim determination. His gleaming sapphire eyes shined through the darkness of the desert dusk and he continued to press on, clutching his massive brown cloak about himself.

The days in the Shurima Desert lasted for almost seventeen hours. It was not a natural occurrence either, the young prophet knew as much. He had read many books and reports about the area over the course of his life, but he never thought any of that would come to any use until the last few days. After a grueling two hour dusk the sun finally set and the young seer could finally rest. He sat down and brought his cloak in close for the temperature was dropping exponentially. He closed his eyes and fell asleep shortly after.

"Feed me..." said a voice, a raspy and distance voice full of menace and spite. The Prophet was not surprised by it and called back to it coolly.

"Where are you taking me?" he inquired but he received no logical response. Instead the voice uttered high pitched groans, moans and screams. It sounded almost mechanic and the Prophet felt like his ears were going to start to bleed. He placed his hands on his temples and pressed hard making any attempt to get the sound out of his head, but to no avail.

"YOU DARE TRY TO ESCAPE ME, MALZAHAR? YOU ARE TRAPPED HERE FOREVER!" the voice screamed over and over until the young Prophet fainted. He woke up then. He gazed up at the moon and noticed he had only been asleep for a few minutes. He realized that the voice in his head did not want him to sleep and he stood, and kept walking.

The Prophet named Malzahar did not remember much about his past, not with this voice in his head. It drowned out all of his memories that did not relate to it accomplishing its own sadistic task, reaching a place that never existed. With all of his power Malzahar had never seen a vision of such a place as Icathia, not until the voice appeared anyways. He had heard rumors of an old ruin that laid deep in the bowels of the desert, surrounded by mystical rocky spires and vengeful spirits and beasts. Now one of the few things that occupied his tortured mind were the sights of ruined pillars and fallen down buildings with words in a long forgotten language barely retaining their form upon them.

Another thing, and perhaps what tortured Malazhar the most was the thoughts of death. He was never a violent man, not ever causing physical harm to anyone in his entire life until the days that the voice came. He could endure it at first, it was an annoyance and a good bit of mediation could ward it off. It only could pester him greatly when he was asleep. It grew stronger day by day though, and on the day that Malzahar left for the desert he plunged a dagger into his own mother's throat the moment he saw her that morning because he thought the voice was coming from her. And once the deed was done the voice laughed at him and called him pathetic as he wept over the corpse of his beloved mother. It jeered and jeered until Malzahar exploded, even worse so than against his mother. He ran into the center of his village and cut down a pair of innocent children who were frolicking in the street. That is one thing he remembered. Stabbing the knife through their throats and watching the blood bubble and spill out of their mouths. He savored it then, it made the voice happy so it made him happy as well.

A villager attacked him and called him a mad man, and as the fist blows rained down upon him Malzahar, completely oblivious to the pain, thought aloud. "I am the madman? What have I done wrong?" Malzahar looked at his hands and then to the Villager who was now backing away slowly with wide eyes. "Hey, I'm not a madman HA! You are the madman! You did this!" Malzahar cackled as he smiled at him and charged, stabbing the man in his portly belly. The man gasped and then screamed as the dagger ripped up his body and through his ribs. "Shh. Shh. Everything will be okay." he whispered in his ear as he tore the dagger out of his chest. He fell to the floor immediately afterward.

Malzahar left soon after, he did not kill anyone else that he remembered, but he did know that he had blacked out a few times between leaving for the desert and that moment. Had the voice taken control? He thought. He stopped thinking, thinking was not safe anymore. The voice said it will leave when he gets to Icathia. He must find Icathia.

The long days and short nights did no favors for the young Prophet who grew more haggard and weak as the days went on, weeks it had been since he had last eaten or drunk and by some mystical driving force he still carried on, but that force had come to its end. He saw a rock up ahead and thought to himself, what a nice place to lie down and die. He heard the voice laugh at his weakness but he did not care anymore. Its taunts were ineffective now as Malzahar placed his dried up hands on the surface of the rock. He collapsed and looked up towards the sun, his eyes burned but he felt no pain. Only the sweet relief of death coursing through his veins could be felt. He laid his head on the sand and faced the rock once more.

He felt something then, something he never felt before as he realized that upon this rock was written a word, a word in a language he had never seen before but somehow understood, it read: Icathia.

A new energy infused within him now, an energy so strong and powerful that he was quite literally lifted off of his feet, it was the voice in control now. Malzahar could only watch as he floated his way over, through the ruins of a once great Cyclopean city, to a building that oddly still stood quite steadily. It was painted with hues of purples, greens and blues. Mostly in the darker shades with lines, shapes and words formed out of black. The voice carried him to the doorway and gave him back control over himself.

As he stood he flexed his fingers and arms. He felt stronger, strong like the day he left for this forsaken desert. He raised his arms to the heavens and stretched, finally free again. He looked down and noticed a circle with a multitude of smaller circles carved into it, each circle itself being carved out of hundreds of other circles. The effort that must have been put into such a design must have been incredible and he was about to kneel down to admire it when the vile energy of the voice came back to him and Malzahar turned to himself with fury.

"Foul demon! Why do you still haunt me? I have done as you asked!" he shouted out his contempt. Inside of his head the voice laughed and the young seer felt a pressure rising up his throat as the voice tried to speak out of his own mouth.

"YOUR DEED IS NOT YET DONE, SLAVE." it shouted with all of its grim, metallic wrath. Malzahar felt himself losing control again as his own body turned against him. His arm grabbed the dagger at his waist, the dagger he personally slew his mother, two children and a man with, and brought it up to his wrists. Malzahars mind twisted and writhed but it had no effect upon his body. The dagger swiftly cut at the protruding blue and green veins that stuck out noticably on his pale skin. His mind screamed in agony, a searing agony more painful than anything he could ever have imagined. But when he put attention back to the wound, he realized it was not bleeding. It never was. Instead, a black energy was dashing back and forth between the circular pattern on the ground and his cut. The agony continued to grown stronger but Malzahar used all of his consecration to keep himself from succumbing to it again.

He watched as the energy stopped moving between the two and just began to pool up on the ground, he watched as a black tar enveloped the terrain around him for yards in each direction. The spreading suddenly stopped and just as suddenly the tar rose up and collapsed upon the immobilized Malzahar in a single swift and synchronized movement. He did not protest, he simply accepted it this time, for he knew he had no control.

But as seconds went by he realized he was not dieing, but being reborn. He felt raw power jolting through his veins and dark magics gripping his very soul. He embraced it, for he knew each surge of power that was brought into him took him one step further from the voice inside of him which he could no longer feel. Malzahar regained control as the last of the black tar was absorbed by him. He stood tall, taller than before and glanced out into the distance. His senses were much keener now, he could see for miles beyond the sight of the common man, it was as if he could see around the curvature of the continent.

He looked back for a moment, feeling some kind of connection to the city, and discovered that the building behind him was no longer colored, all of the color had been sucked out and absorbed into the robe which he now wore, a beautifully embroidered purple robe that brandished streaks of blues and greens with a black trimming. He decided to look inside the building, for the doors were open and he was curious of not just the city, but of his new self. He levitated himself off of the ground with no effort at all and floated to the entrance. Inside laid a portal, a purple and black swirling vortex of malevolence and hatred. Just the sound that the portal emitted was music to his ears. He decided to reach in. He reached around a few moments before he caught hold of what felt to be an arm.

As he pulled the arm revealed itself to be a giant red shaft connected to a gnarled and jagged scythe blade, he pulled harder and the vortex groaned and expanded and suddenly a giant red beast busted forth from it and plowed straight through the wall. The beast was red with black spots here and there, he had man arms and legs and an almost ant like anatomy. His head was long and his mouth was huge and lined with sharp jagged teeth and a long malevolent tongue. The beast turned to Malzahar and bowed itself as best as it could.

"I am Cho'Gath of the Void, and I am humbly at your service."


	2. The Wayfarer

Chapter Two

The Wayfarer

Not much time passed before another man stumbled upon the ancient ruins of Icathia. He was a pilgrim of the ancients, a strong minded young man who had journeyed far from his home near the great Mount Targon. He was dressed strangely for his robe had no upper half and his strong muscular chest was exposed to the vicious desert winds, only a brown sash went across his chest, holding his brown layered robe bottoms to his shoulder piece, a pair of brassards horned with the tusks of a great boar. Upon his wrists were a pair leather vambraces. A black scarf was wrapped around his neck and covered his mouth and nose. And all across his garb were magic symbols written in the language of the Icathians. His long black hair blew gracefully in the desert wind.

He fondled his sword in his hand as he moved forth, knowing very well that rumors said dark beasts laid dormant here in waiting. The city was quite small, or at least what could be seen. He had read that the city was built upon a hill thousands of years ago and a never ending sandstorm had buried it as well as the once fertile area that is now called the Shurima Desert. It was said that it was just an occurrence of nature, but the young pilgrim knew better than that. Deep in his studies, hours of intense laboring through old manuscripts and texts he had found a single torn document with a single sentence written upon it.

"...and the Dark Ones, disappointed with the cowardice of their followers, buried the Cyclopeans."

He kept that with him now, that very note was what lured him here. The allure of the taboo magics had always appealed to the young man, delving deep into Necromancy and Hemomancy in the days of his youth, but as he grew older he sought the most taboo of all, the magics of darkness. On another scroll he found a spell which he had sewn into his robes. A spell that transferred the dark energies of the caster into a blade.

The ruins of the city that were still upon the surface consisted of small huts and pillars, adorned with faded carvings of words that even the young man could hardly read, much of it unimportant, a home here, a home there, a shrine here, but then he came upon he came upon a crumbling building with a clear cut inscription, as if it was carved in just moments before.

"Let all know the dread of the Unknown and let the world writhe in fear." He placed his hand upon it and felt a tingle in his finger tips. He reread it and noticed that the word "Unknown" was used as a pronoun and not an adjective. It puzzled him greatly. He looked at the crumbled building and saw that the debris had been recently disturbed for it was not blanketed by the falling sands. Then he heard a sound he would not forget for the rest of his life.

"KASSADIN HELP ME PLEASE! HELP!" he heard a bone chilling scream echoing from the inside the crumbling building. The young man raced inside and discovered a tunnel that was crudely dug into the sand, held up by some mystical energy. He flew down inside and rushed to find the source for the voice sounded eerily familiar. The tunnel seemed to twist and wind in all directions and if felt like it took almost an hour to reach the base and once he did he stood aghast as the sight of his daughter bound in chains entered his eyes. He ran to her but fazed straight through. He turned around and tried to grasp her in his hands but he could not.

"This is the future for you my friend." a voice spoke out from behind him and he turned, blade in hand, to face the source but the room was empty.

"Show yourself coward!" Kassadin roared but all he heard in response was a raspy metallic laugh. Suddenly all the room went dark, and the image of his daughter was gone. All that was visible was a shining purple tear in the wall ahead of him, it showed an image. An image of the bedroom in his home and his wife, cleaning the dust off of his study. He watched it for a while until he noticed that the blackness was creeping into his home. His wife was grabbed by a tendril of darkness and pulled into the black abyss that surrounded him.

"Agatha, no!" he screamed as tears rolled down his face. His wife kicked and screamed against the darkness enveloping her but to no avail and with a final shriek of the name of her husband, completely vanished. Kassadin bellowed in anger and charged into the darkness, slicing blindly with his blade as the voice laughed and jeered at him.

"Your attacks will not hit me, pilgrim." a tremendous force knocked Kassadin off of his feet and onto the ground a few yards back. He tried to stand but his legs were immediately swiped by another force and he laid face down on the ground. He started to cry again and the darkness echoed in the laughter of the malefic voice that haunted him now. He managed to move his head towards the image of his home again, hoping to see that he had just imagined all of this, but his wife was indeed gone and to his despair, the darkness now was clutching hold of his daughter, Serena.

"No please! Don't! Not my daughter!" he begged and the darkness laughed and dragged her in as well. He stood again and ran towards his daughter and was caught by another tendril. "I will do anything, please do not harm her!" he cried and the voice was silent. His daughter, no longer visible could still be heard screaming from some far off and distant place. "Take me instead. Please..." he groveled now.

"I shall take your humanity away from you and turn you into a warrior of the dark, a paladin of malevolence, a Wayfarer of the Void." the voice said, no longer sounding raspy and metallic but more charismatic and charming. "You shall be my soldier and slave, and your beautiful daughter," Kassadin flinched at her daughter being called beautiful by such a foul presence, "shall be set free." Kassadin heard some shifting and writhing in the dark and his daughter was pulled forth by a dark tentacle from the shadows, unconscious but unharmed.

"What of my wife?" Kassadin spoke weakly, knowing he was making a deal with the devil. Again he heard the writhing of the darkness in the shadows and this time his wife came forth, completely of her own power, completely nude and approached him. She was laminated with a hue of purple light and shone brilliantly in the darkness. She came to him and pressed her lips against Kassadin's and they kissed, slowly and passionately and then she broke off.

"My love, I am already lost..." She spoke softly and slowly faded away into the darkness.

"She is with the Void now. It is too late." the voice did not sound sincere, just simply impartial and apathetic to the emotional trauma that it had just caused to him. Kassadin stood in despair for a few moments and looked towards his daughter.

"I am yours." he said softly and watched as his daughter was slowly brought back into his home and the image slowly withered away.

"Brace yourself. If you do not live the transformation, I will try it on your daughter next."the voice spoke with a hint of satisfaction. Kassadin spat and spread his arms wide.

"I welcome your curse." He said and closed his eyes. Immediately his arms and legs were grabbed by tendrils and pulled apart, Kassadin screamed in agony as his limbs were stretched to their limits and beyond. He felt a hand pressed against his chest and opened his eyes just for a moment to see a pair of glowing purple eyes, no whites or pupil just a complete purple, in front of him. The hand pressed firmer against his chest and he began to feel his skin melt away and the pain almost rendered him unconscious if not for the thought of his daughter's survival. Slowly all of his skin burned to ashe and fell away, leaving his muscular system completely exposed. The hand was removed from his chest and he took a deep breath of relief.

It did not last long before a huge blast of energy burst forth against his chest and he felt the energy surging throughout his body. He felt a new skin growing back, even more painful than losing it was regaining it he watched his hands as the red muscle was covered in a new skin, tinted a deep blue. His robes, which had been burned away with his skin, also regrew, now jet black and adorned with white markings in Icathian, evil markings binding him to his new form. He felt his skin burn once more as the same marks were burnt into his body. Lastly he felt an extreme pain as a sharp point, almost dagger like, cut markings into his cheeks. On the right it read, "Void" and on the left it read "Walker".


	3. A Predator in the Dark

Chapter Three

A Predator in the Dark

The specks of light given off from the countless numbers of stars blanketing the sky hardly lit the calignous forest road, shrouded in mist and hanging mosses from dead and rotting trees with blackened trunks and branches. It wound and wound around, twisting and turning like a serpent, and just as deadly as a serpent as well for it was very unsteadily built and completely unpatrolled by the local gendarme or police. Bandits plagued it like flies to a rotting corpse. Ahead was a small light and a figure emerged out from the darkness as it crept closer. It was small and crept around like a dog. It did not dare step any closer for the light was coming from a lamppost in front of an inn. Two older men stood under the lamp light and were standing closely to each other, speaking in whispers.

One man was graying at his mane and stood with the help of a cane. The cane was made of a wickedly shaped branch with a skull tip. The other, middle aged, stood tall and strong dressed in the armor of the local militia. The two leaned in real close and then the older man glanced around cautiously and discretely passed a half dozen gold coins to the soldier. The soldier took it and pocketed it, the old man nodded his head towards the inn and the soldier made his way in, banging his hand against a sign on the side of the door. The sign read, "Last Stop Inn".

The Last Stop Inn was exceptionally busy that night, almost every table was loaded with at least four men and women except one, a table in the darkest corner of the building, where a single woman sat. The bar was in quite fair shape and had an infamously wide selection of liquors and tonics. The counters were made of fine Mahogany and the tables were luxuriously covered in royal red tablecloths. The cups were not of pewter like in most bars in Valoran, but instead they were of rich-quality glass, without any blemishes or scratches. The people occupying the bar, with the exception of the lone woman in the dark corner, did not reflect the richness of the bar. Most of them wore the garb of the lower level peasant class, dirty and stained farmers, foresters, hunters, nurses, milkmaids and whores.

The woman in the corner, not extravagantly dressed, gave off an aura mischief and most of the patrons of the bar who were not too drunk had been keeping at least one eye on her. She was dressed in all black leather, skin tight and completely unadorned. She had strange metal knee caps and boots with steel heels. She had a brown leather utility belt with a few pouches as well as steel gauntlets up to the elbow on both arms. On her right gauntlet laid a strange mechanical device that looked like a metal box or shield boss. Her face, the only place where her pale skin was visible, was strong, attractive and unblemished. Her jet black hair was tied back in an extensively extravagant pony tail that was well kept and tied up with bow string. She had sunglasses resting against her forehead that were tinted an ostentatious red. She had a large brown cape hanging from her chair and a large black case. She sat with a pretentious glow, her leg raised high and resting against the table side. She was in the process of taking a long drag on her cigarette when the militiaman pressed his way into the bar.

He walked hubristicly into the center of the room, trying to draw as much attention to himself by walking heavy-footedly. An elderly man with a wooden cane crept in behind him and took his place behind the bar. "Now, now everyone calm down." he spoke obnoxiously, catching the attention of the entire room except the strange woman in the back. "I need you nice folk to clear out real nice like, we don't want no trouble." he spoke incredibly obtusely. The crowd of patrons murmured to itself and the least drunk started to stand and walk out, followed by somewhat drunk people dragging out the completely inebriated. The woman only scoffed at the request and remained seated, not even bothering to acknowledge him.

He smiled when he saw that the woman remained seated. He approached her slowly. "I said" he muttered "to clear out." he placed his hand on the woman's shoulder and she scoffed again.

"I am not 'nice folk'" she said as she took one last drag of her cigarette. She held it in her hand for a moment and flicked it away towards the barman. He shuffled uneasily at that.

"Have it your way." the militiaman said and he put his hand on his hilt and drew his sword a few inches from its scabbard. The woman reacted quickly and threw her fist into his stomach and smashed her other against his face. He recoiled from the first blow and completely fell flat on the ground from the second. He groaned as he struggled to get back on his feet. Before he could compose himself he caught a glimpse of a leg swiftly moving in to strike him in the bridge of the nose before he blacked out.

The young woman looked down upon him and spat. Then she looked towards the barman and walked slowly towards him. She pulled out a yellow piece of parchment. "You are not from around here, are you?" she asked coldly. He shook his head in the negative. Her blue eyes went down to the parchment and back up to the barman. "Do you hail by the name of Kieth Hammerstone?" she asked, her tone still grim.

"Some call me as such." he spoke nervously, "What does it matter to you?" he fondled the skull tip of his cane.

"You have been convicted of the crimes of Alchemy and Murder in the Demacian court." she spoke slowly as she read, making sure to dramatize every word. Kieth flinched at the accusation but then chuckled.

"What are you, some bounty hunter?" he spoke calmly and pulled out a bag of gold coins from underneath the counter. It was quite heavy. "I am sure there is more than enough gold here to cover what ever bounty is against me." he looked at the woman and tossed the coin purse.

In one quick blur, the young woman unfolded the device on her wrist into a small silver crossbow and loosed a bolt. It struck the coin purse and pinned it against the wall, inches from the barman's head. It was quiet for a few seconds until the velvet material of the purse ripped enough for the coins to start spilling all over the floor. Once the clamor was over she spoke.

"I am no bounty hunter. I am a hunter of those who practice the black arts. I serve and protect the innocent. I am the Night Hunter." she growled and the barman only smiled.

"Oh my dear, I know exactly who you are, Shauna Vayne. I have heard many stories about you, the tightly-clad, black beauty hunting down and killing those who lurk in the darkness." he laughed loudly. "I was only giving you a chance to change your mind before I had to kill you." Shauna scoffed again and loaded another bolt into her crossbow.

"Any last words, fiend?" she spat.

"Yes indeed I do," he started, "alchemy is not the only dark art I have been practicing!" He rose his cane in the air and spoke booming words in the language of lichdom. Shauna was about to loose but the ground quaked beneath her and she lost her footing. The wooden floor boards snapped and flew into the air, revealing the soft marshy soil underneath. Shauna looked at it and recognized the sight, and tumbled back towards the back table as hands and heads of skeletons began to protrude from the earth and rise. She opened the black case and a pulled forth a huge wooden and steel crossbow from it. She turned quickly around just in time to send a bolt smashing through the skull of a skeleton almost within arms reach of her.

She dropped in down on the table and shot another skeleton through the eye socket with her wrist mounted crossbow. Before she had time to load it a skeleton with flesh still rotting and decaying off of its bones grabbed her and threw her across the room. She stood quickly and grabbed a nearby stool from one of the tables. Two skeletons tried to grab her and she slammed the stool through the torso of one and crashed it against the skull of the other. A skeleton with an ancient longbow emerged and drew back on its bow and Shauna rolled behind an upturned table at the last second as the arrow whistled through the air and skimmed against her shoulder, tearing the leather and leaving a streak of red.

The table rocked as a skeleton with a battered old iron helmet tried to climb over and was immediately dispatched by a swift metal fisted punch to the neck, sending the head flying. Another arrow hit the table and Shauna popped up, crossbow loaded and blasted it, pinning the skull against the wall. She attempted to reload again but the still rotting skeleton grabbed her and tried to bring a knife through her chest. She kicked the monster back and tumbled backwards, reloaded and loosed one final bolt.

She watched the rotting skeleton as it slunk back and collapsed upon itself. She then turned her attention to the barman who was now cowering under the counter. She grabbed him and pushed him against the wall and walked back towards the back of the bar. She grabbed her crossbow and case and loaded a huge silver bolt into the weapon.

"By committing such crimes," she continued as if nothing had happened, "your life and soul is forfeit." she pressed the stock of the giant crossbow against her shoulder.

"I'll see you in hell you bitch!" he hissed and she bolt drove home into his heart.

Shauna Vayne rummaged through the inn and found almost a hundred pounds in fabricated gold. She piled the coins, plates, rings, bracelets and candlesticks into a single mound and opened up a compartment in her belt. From it she brought a small vial of transparent liquid. She pulled out the cork with her teeth and poured it upon the pile. It began to fizz and bubble immediately and after a few seconds, all the false gold turned into the coal from which it came.

She kicked open the door to the bar, walking out with the guard folded over her shoulder, unconscious. Her giant crossbow was now strapped on her back and the case abandoned. Inscribed on its flank was "Gastraphetes" She let the guard down and leaned his limp body against the lamppost. She turned to her left and caught a glimpse of a body lying face down in the road, a small pool of blood reflected the flickering flame of the lamppost.

Shauna approached it slowly and knelt down. It was a woman, perhaps sixteen years of age. She rolled her over and saw that she was killed by some kind of laceration to the neck. Her eyes were rolled back and her visage was that of horror. A branch snapped and the sound of leaves being trampled on radiates from the darkness ahead. Crossbow loaded, Shauna creeps slowly forward, her ears honed in on the patter of footsteps against the cobblestone street. Suddenly the noises ceased and she lost track of the creeping presence. She turned to look behind her and a beast flew forth from the shadows and tackled her down, clashing her head against the hard stone floor. The beast drooled a black ooze on her face and tried to stab down on her with a sharp claw-like leg.

Shauna managed to roll to the side and fling the beast off of her and back into the shadows. Its three yellow eyes were glowing, focused on her as she side stepped to counter its movements. She fired a bolt but the beast jumped high into the air and avoided it. It landed a few yards in front of her and charged, leaping on her again but Shauna caught it and threw it down onto the ground. It shrieked and narrowly dodged another bolt which hammered through the cobble and stuck deep in the turf.

The beast walked side to side, picking and angle of attack and struck, this time the beast bit down on Shauna's metal gauntlet and broke through it, causing blood to spill onto the floor. She managed to toss it off her once again and stood her ground once more, with a limp arm and her clothes torn from the roughness of the road and the sharpness of the carapace of the beast. It was small, but had jagged and hard skin. It walked with four legs, each sharp as a dagger. Each of its four legs led to a small body that held up a rather large head. Upon that head were the three yellow eyes, two on the bottom and one on top of the two in a triangle. It was colored a deep purple with a blue underside.

It pounded its legs into the ground, taunting her as it walked around her in circles, again waiting for the perfect moment to strike. This time though, Shauna purposely let her guard down, she faked tripping on the ground and the purple monster leaped at her. When it got close enough she stood and raised her arm and loosed a bolt straight into the mouth of the monster, sending it reeling back. It stuck the ground hard as it landed and went limp. Shauna watched it for a moment and took a step forward and fired another bolt into the head of the beast. It screamed and roared loudly when it stuck and was quickly silenced for the last time.

"Clever bastard..." she muttered before collapsing on to the floor. She laid there for a moment before sitting up. She managed to slide her hand free of the crushed gauntlet, but it caused her great pain for the bone was shattered and mangled. "I cannot set this myself, I need a doctor." she said to herself as she tore a hanging piece of torn leather from her abdomen and wrapped it tightly about her wound. She opened up another compartment from her belt and rubbed some green herbs against the minor cuts and scrapes on her body and tossed it down when she was done. She heard another sound and quickly turned, crossbow ready, to see that the monster was dissolving into the road, bubbling and swirling black ooze pooled under the corpse and then began to dry up once the corpse had completely dissolved, leaving no trace of it behind. She sighed.

"Hey over there! You! Stop!" she heard and down the road she saw a group of horseman galloping towards her. She ran quickly back to where the dead woman lied and slid quietly into the shadows of the night.


	4. Limitless Power

Chapter Four

Limitless Power

The fruitful Ionian hill side shined with glory of the beauty of nature. Deer pranced in the valley and rabbits flushed around the tall grass looking for ripe vegetation to eat. The trees that were once destroyed by the Noxian invasion had grew back stronger than ever, almost as if inspired to defy the empire themselves. They grew tall and mighty with massive canopies that now are home to hundreds of species of birds and insects. It was here once that a great school of magic stood, upon the hill side a great academy dedicated to teaching the control of ones magic and ones self. Not ever in its history had a student failed to do so, they learned through the magic of patience that they could control their magic even better if they understood it, meditated on it and respected it. Until the dark child came. She was born with a tremendous power and an inability to limit herself, she only wished to become stronger. Nothing was important to her but gaining power over others.

When she was enlisted in the school, the overseer had cast a spell over her in secret, her natural growth of power. For many years it went on so and the dark child learned how to control it, but then she had realized the deception that had been done upon her. She confronted her teacher and slew him, a master of magic, with merely a flip of the wrist. Once killed, the years spent that her power did not grow came back to her and she overloaded with the dark magics, killing everyone in the school and lifting it off of the ground and launching it, along with herself, into the sky never to be seen again. That is how the legend was said to be.

There was a young woman who sat in meadows and meditated all throughout the day who told this tale. She was a strange woman, dressed in peculiar clothes and very beautiful, those who saw her often called her the most beautiful woman in all of Ionia. It was rumored that she mediated in the nude, so many young boys went out to find her but instead came back with strange tales of odd magics and legends. So her popularity grew, and many sought her out for advice and to just listen to the sound of her voice, a majestic and noble voice that radiated the feeling of royalty. But what they did not know was that when she was alone, she practiced terrifying magics, destroying entire hillsides and forests and being able to reassemble them together with just her mind. It was on such an occasion that she was caught off guard by a group of three warriors, two men and one woman.

The first, a tall and muscular man who wore a blue gi and wielded two katanas upon his back. He wore a mask that covered all of his face except his eyes which shone with a brilliant white light. The second man was very short, not a man but a beast. He also wore gi, which was modified for his small size. It was purple and had two yellow stripes going down it. It had a hood that covered the face with two points on the top to fit the creature's ears. He wielded deadly shuriken that were big even for a normal man. The last, the woman, was strikingly beautiful with large, beautiful eyes and long flowing hair. He garb was different. It was green with white trimming and covered her breasts and abdomen and left a loin cloth to cover her more sensitive areas. She had long green boots and vambraces up to the elbow in length. She like the others had a mask of some sort. She wielded two wickedly hooked blades called kumas. The three of them moved quickly and quietly even in broad daylight, for they had to. They were the guardians of the land, the ninja, the Kinkou.

"Shen, Akali, Kennen." the woman said as she halted her destruction "So nice of you to join me. Would you care for some tea?" The tall one, Shen, stepped forward.

"You know why we are here, dark child." Shen said, speaking from somewhere far away.

"You are a threat to the world and it is our duty to Prune the Tree for you have been deemed a great danger." The woman, Akali, said. The woman turned around to face the Kinkou and smiled.

"I was a child when I killed a leader of the Kinkou, a foolish old man who tried to bind me. What makes you think you can destroy me where he could not?" her voice grew raspy and malevolent. Kennen, the Yordle, stepped forward.

"Because the order has grown stronger, and the triumvirate is complete." he gestured to the three of them and nodded his dead.

"Oh wow cute. Well... I am glad you came. I haven't bashed in anyone's skull in a very long time." she gestured for Shen to come approach her and he did, drawing both of his blades. He dashed forward, a lightning fast blur of purple and blue and appeared before the woman and brought both blades down but she feigned to the left to dodge and conjured a ball and blasted it forward, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling back. He landed on his feet and dashed again, this time appearing high up in the air, he came down quick and slashed down but just barely cut against her chest. She stepped back and looked down at her chest as the piece of cloth covering her left breast fell off and exposed her. She scoffed.

"Shen, are you trying to have your way with me? All you had to do was ASK!" as she spoke the last word she conjured another ball behind Shen and slammed it against his legs, knocking him down. She brought it straight up and then straight down, almost crushing him if not for his quick dash. He appeared behind her and sliced horizontally but she ducked down and blasted him in the chest with a quick gesture. This time he was a little slow to get up.

"You are indeed strong, Child, I wish you had not gone astray. You could have made a fine member of the Kinkou." he said mournfully as he again dashed in, but at the last second moved to the right to avoid another blast and kicked at her legs, causing her to fall. He put a sword up high and tried to bring it down on her but she rolled out of the way and waved her hands, knocking him backwards a few yards. She immediately followed up with another conjured ball, which struck him against the ribs and brought him to his knees. Another ball came close to smashing against his head but he rolled forwards to dodge it.

He stood up and threw down a small black ball that exploded in a blinding light. The woman covered her eyes and when the light subsided she saw a katana, spinning through the air, she ducked just in time to avoid it but Shen appeared right behind her and brought his other blade straight into her stomach and out of her back. She coughed out blood as she floated there, suspended on the blade. She looked up at Shen and saw that in those eyes there was sorrow, the first time in his life that he felt sorrow, or any emotion towards a violator of the equilibrium of Valoran. The woman gazed long and hard into his eyes and leaned in close. She pulled down the mask covering his face and kissed him with all the passion she could muster. And then when she was done, she leaned to the side and fell, slipping out of the blade and landing hard on the grassy hillside.

Shen just stood there looking at her on the floor, squirming and coughing. He looked to his right and saw Akali, who was holding his hand. "You did good my old friend. You did not let your emotions get in the way of your work." she spoke softly. Kennen was already gone, back to report the task was done. Akali left after she said those words and Shen was alone with the woman he had just slain. She was still coughing, though her squirming had stopped. He took off the bindings that covered his mouth from about his next, the same one the woman had pulled down to kiss him. He held it in his hand as he got on his knees and kissed her again, this time even stronger than before and the woman used what little strength she had to speak a few words to him.

"My name... Syndra..." then she dropped her arms and began breathing very lowly. Shen took the cloth from his face and pressed it against Syndra's breast to cover her, so she can die with just a little more honor than she already had. He gave ones last look back at her, folded his hands against his chest and vanished.

So this is what it feels like to die, she thought, it is not too bad. She felt her life force slipping away and her vision became cloudier and cloudier until she could not make out her hand in front of her face. But then, suddenly, she felt something new. It was a tingle of energy, surging through he chest. My soul, my soul is being released. She thought, but soon the tingle turned into an extreme pain as she felt as if the whole world around her had caved in upon her and was being forced inside of her, through every which way it could find this new pain crept inside of her and filled her with agony. She felt her body giving up but her mind grew stronger. She knew that she was no longer in danger of dieing, that something had brought her back from the brink of death. And as suddenly as it started, the pain was gone. And all that was left was the tingle. She still could not move, and her eyes would not open. She heard a voice. A menacing, raspy, mechanical voice that hurt her ears to hear, but she listened.

"Syndra, you shall be my queen one day. This you owe me. I shall see you again soon." and it was gone, the tingle, the paralysis, the blindness. All gone. She stood up and flexed her arms and legs.

"All of this power..." she felt new energy coursing through her veins. Her peculiar robe was gone now. Instead she wore a raunchy black and purple corset that hardly covered her breasts with a skirt that fell down to her calves in the back and to her knees in the front. She also bore a headdress, a peculiar looking piece that looked more like a crown than anything else. She felt something, a pain in her stomach but the pain was not with her, it was somewhere else. She felt someone else feeling her pain. It was Shen. She knew. Placing her hands on her forehead she channeled all of her energy into the space around her and vanished into a ball of darkness.

Kennen was sitting outside of the Kinkou Dojo, looking up at the sunset when a huge shock wave shook the entire building and the earth around it. Kennen remained standing for he had strong balance. The shock wave was emanating from a massive dark energy that was surging through the ground a couple yards in front of him, suddenly it burst into a blinding light and Syndra appeared. She stood tall and strong, floating off of the ground with three orbs of darkness orbiting around her. Kennen threw a shuriken but it was dissolved in mid air by the powers generating off of Syndra. He dashed in, taking the form of a bolt of lightning but Syndra caught him. He stood helpless as Syndra conjured a ball of dark energies in front of him and jammed it into his stomach and slammed him into the ground. The impact left a small crater, in which Kennen laid unconscious in.

When Syndra got inside, she looked around and admired the architecture of the building, it was huge and lined with beautiful columns of jade and marble with elaborate paintings depicting the history of the Kinkou. She placed her hand upon a column that depicted the slaying of a great Kinkou leader by the hands of a child and felt a vibration ring out through the air. She looked to the left quickly and saw Akali dashing towards her with her kumas spread to rip and tear at her, she conjured a dozen orbs and blasted them at her, one of them hit knocking her to the ground. Syndra gathered all the orbs and brought them down onto where Akali stood but she dashed quickly out of the way and into safety. Syndra looked around for her but the room suddenly became shrouded in darkness. She tried to listen in for her but only heard the sound of the mist hissing as it touched the torches in the hallway ahead.

She ducked quickly to avoid a kama thrown at her and jumped to avoid another, then created a shield to block a direct attack from Akali who went back into the shadows. Syndra caught a glimpse of her and blasted at a column with an orb of darkness, causing Akali to cry out in pain, but she was still on the move. She turned quickly to see both kamas flying towards her, the first missing her throat by an inch and the second slicing against her breast, right over her heart. Syndra caught the kama that sliced her breast and threw it back into the darkness. She heard the sound of it being retrieved by her foe and send a dozen orbs blasting towards the location. Again Akali cried out in pain but this time she did not move again, she was hurt bad, her leg broken and her face bruised.

Syndra got on her knees next to her and stroked her cheek, Akali whimpered out of pain and Syndra, although angry, felt sorry for the poor girl, but she needed to get to Shen, something was telling her to go to him. She tore off the piece of cloth hanging from her breast and used it to roughly bind Akali's wound, she cried but did not resist. Syndra got up and walked away then, leaving the woman there for she had a task at hand.

The hallway she saw was lined with many torches and went on for a good while until she reached the final room. It was a large room decorated with weapons of all kinds and armors of different Valoranian cultures. Shen stood alone facing a pair of twin golden katanas that laid on a marble pedestal. "I sat here and watched the Kinkou torture my father to death in this very chair." he placed his hand on the arm of a chair sitting next to him. Syndra kept walking until she stood beside him.

"I did not feel anything then. I did not feel anything for any of the marks I've killed or the people I've met besides those who work with me here, my brother and sister." he held a painting of Akali and Kennen in his hand. "until you that is." he turned to Syndra and wore no mask. He was a middle aged man, perhaps in his mid thirties but still dashingly handsome. "Who are you to cause such feelings in someone as cold as I?" Syndra grabbed his hand and held it but he wrenched himself free.

"I had never felt anything for anyone until you killed me Shen. Only hatred lived in my heart and it took dieing to make me realize that there is more to life than hate." She then raised herself into the air at Shen's height and kissed him again. They embraced each other as it drug on for minutes until Syndra broke off and began removing her top. Once it was removed she embraced Shen again but he immediately pushed her off of him.

"What is that?" he demanded and pointed to the space in between her breasts. Syndra peered down and saw a marking she had never seen before, it looked like it was a word or phrase.

"I don't know, I've never seen that before in my life." she spoke the truth.

"Do you know what that is Syndra? That is the language of the Void! It says 'queen' in Icathian!" he drew his blade but Syndra began to protest.

"I swear I have never seen it before I-" she was cut short when his katana buried itself inside of her for the second time that day. She looked down slowly at the blade and then back up to Shen, who's face was stuck between anguish and anger.

"Syndra I love you. But the evil that you carry with you is too great. I have to do this." He closed his eyes and stabbed into her heart with his other blade. Syndra did not feel any pain, she did not feel any weakness either. All she felt was anger, and betrayal.

"Shen! You bastard!" she screamed and the blades flew out of her body and sent everything nearby flying away. Shen hit the wall hard and looked up at Syndra in awe as she conjured orbs of dark energy all around her and sent the entire volley racing towards him. He could not move, he would not have moved even if he could. For he could not take it any longer. As the orbs closed in he uttered a silent prayer for Akali, Kennen, the Kinkou order and even for Syndra. But they never hit. The orbs vanished and Syndra looked upon Shen with the hatred more powerful than any foe he had ever faced, any challenge, any task, was completely dwarfed by the hatred that he sensed coming off of his beloved. She turned to him and slowly walked towards him, bolts of dark energy zapping forth from her breast where the sword had once penetrated her heart.

Once she got up to him she knelt down and grabbed his hand, She looked straight into his eyes as she pressed his hand against her bare breast, pressed it down so hard that Shen felt the bones in his hand start to snap. "Do you feel that heartbeat?" she asked and Shen just looked at her with dread. "There is no heart there anymore. You killed it." she stood and turned away from him and suddenly disappeared in a great ball of dark energy.

"No. I felt nothing."


	5. Betrayal

Chapter Five

Betrayal

A great mountain capped with snow rose in the horizon as a small town on a hill slowly crept into sight. It had dozens of small dirt hovels, brick manors and rising pillars of churches and guard towers. It was surrounded by a thin wall made of oak trunks and thick rope bindings. Two men stood atop the gatehouse and beckoned a welcome to a familiar face as Kassadin approached.

"Kassadin! Where have you-" he stopped when he noticed the blue skin and strange armor. "Are you alright, sir?" he asked with concern. Kassadin rose his hand up casually.

"Yes I am fine. It is just a backfire from a spell I had failed casting." he lied causally. The man stood still for a moment and then began to pull on a rope that pulled up the flimsy iron bars of the gate. He rose his hand again and passed through. He held a strange helmet in his hand. It was decorated similarly as his robes but had two large horns on the top and had a strange nose piece that had four tubes on it, one pair connecting to the back of the helmet while the other pair hung loosely down.

A most of the faces walking down the well paved street shouted greetings to him and he simply waved his hand casually at them. Slowly making his way further up the hill to him home, a rather large cottage made of brick and slate, his ventures in search of great magics brought him great wealth. Once he reached the door he stood there and smiled lightly. He reached for the handle but a powerful voice ringed out into his head.

"Kassadin do not open that door, your task is not complete." the voice was dark, raspy and very familiar.

"I do not care for your orders, fiend. I am to see my daughter." he spoke softly to himself. His head rung again and he had to place his hand against his forehead.

"So be it. Enjoy your whore daughter while you can." The dark energy left and Kassadin opened the door with a breath of relief. His home was two stories high with a large marble staircase in the middle of his hall that rose up to a balcony that ran all around the room with doors every few yards along the wall. The walls were hung with rugs and furs of rare beasts. Two matching lines of potted plants led from the door way to the center of the room where a few chairs and couches where in a circle around an empty mahogany table. The chairs and couches were adorned with gold leafing and plush red cushions.

"Selena! Selena my daughter come to me!" Kassadin shouted as he dropped his helmet onto the nearest chair and took a few steps up the staircase. He heard no response and rushed up the stairs in concern and wrenched the door to her room open to find it uninhabited. He opened all the doors, closets bathrooms and found no one. He walked into the kitchen to find that food still lied on the table, a half eaten bowl of rice. Kassadin reached out and grabbed a single grain of rice. It was dried out. Suddenly he heard a noise upstairs in his and his wife's room and leaped up the stairs.

In there he found a beautiful young woman with raven black hair and dressed elegantly, sprawled on the floor in front of his study. She was crying.

"Selena I am here." he spoke softly and she turned to him with red, puffy eyes full of tears. They looked at each other for what felt like an hour before she recognized him. Once she did, she screamed and ran to him crying and shouting, pounding her small gentle fists against her chest. He stood there and looked down at his feet as his daughter screamed and pounded on him.

"You monster!" she cried "You killed her! You killed her! I saw you in there! You bastard!" she pushed her father away from her and snatched up a pen from his study and held it out menacingly towards him. "Papa, why? You saved me instead of her! How do you expect me to live when I know that my father is a monster? You... you took her in that place. I was watching. And then you took me and almost killed me. I-I don't remember anything else..." she stared defiantly at her father. Kassadin reached out for her.

"Selena please listen to me-"

"SHUT UP! Shut up!" she threw the pen at him and threw a couple of books from his desk at him also. Kassadin did not flinch as the books hit hard against his chest and face, he only looked upon his daughter in despair.

"Selena I loved your mother." he affirmed. "I did not kill her, if the choice was given to me I would have had myself killed, but it was not. It was rather-" tears welled up in his eyes and he had to lean against the doorway into his bedroom to keep standing. "It was rather just her or both of you. Your mother was already gone before I had even known what was happening-" he was interrupted as his daughter hugged him around his waist and dropped to her knees.

"Papa I was so scared." she stuttered between snivels and tears."I could do anything I just watched. I could have saved mama but I was a coward." she buried her face into Kassadin's robe. He did not speak, he just held her there and sat down. Selena whimpered and breathed weakly.

Selena fell asleep after a few minutes. Kassadin, tired from his journey but unable to sleep, sat with his daughter laying in his lap and meditated. He meditated on the day he had married his beautiful Agatha fifteen years prior, he blinding happiness as their vows were said and joined together. He remembered the night they had consummated their love and brought little Selena into the world, and the happiness he felt when he first laid eyes on his newborn daughter.

Kassadin watched through the windows as the sunlight faded and night rose into the sky. He stroked his daughter's hair and just watched. Suddenly he heard a faint tapping on his door. He rose slowly and walked to it quietly being careful not to wake Selena. He opened it a crack and saw a young man with brown hair, bright blue eyes and a white and gold hood, scarf and cape with fashionable white and blue pants with a tunic of white and black with gold trimming, he looked like a prince from the desert. He had an ornate dagger hanging from his belt, sheathed in gold and ivory.

"You must be Kassadin," he nodded his head humbly, "I am Prince Rah Azlam from the Shurima city of Thepho. He bowed again. Kassadin looked quizzically at him.

"You bow awfully well for a man of royal blood." he opened his door all the way open. Prince Rah smiled.

"We share a curse, you and I." he spoke well and clearly. He rolled up his sleeve and exposed a strange marking on his fore arm, a mystical marking similar to the ones marked on Kassadin's robe. "I too was once a slave to the dark, but I escaped, just as you have." Kassadin brooded at this.

"How do you know that I have been to the Void?" he asked.

"I heard the voice too. I heard it when you were being turned into what you are now, and I heard it when you broke free from its spell. It threatened your daughter." he said solemnly.

"No harm will come to my daughter while I still breathe." he spat and he moved back to close the door but Prince Rah held it.

"Please come to my castle, I will protect you. I protect all who are threatened by the Void. I have taken it upon myself to do so, for the beasts of the Void took my wife and mother." He looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. Kassadin thought hard for a moment.

"Take my daughter tonight, I shall pack our belongings and make my way in the morning." he gestured towards his stable. The Prince smiled and bowed his head again. Kassadin stepped inside and saw that Selena was standing behind him. She looked sad.

"Papa, do you think it is safer that way?" she asked, rubbing her arm against her eyes.

"Yes I do. Grab a change of clothes and anything you need immediately." she ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Kassadin grabbed a dagger from a weapon rack next to the hearth and sheathed it. When Selena came back down he handed the blade to her. She took it and nodded and walked to the door, her father opened it for her.

"Is that all you need for now?" Prince Rah asked and she nodded. Selena was surprised by how young and handsome he was. She walked back towards the stable and disappeared behind the corner of the house.

"Kassadin," Prince Rah whispered as Kassadin watched his daughter turn the corner.

"Yes your highness?" he said, a little confused. The Prince stepped a little closer.

"Do not look directly at it, but in the shadows to my left, a few yards away a beast of the Void awaits." he nudged his head to his left and Kassadin saw out of the peripherals of his vision three glowing yellow eyes in the shadow.

"We must hurry." Prince Rah said and Kassadin called upon his daughter who was now mounted on a white mare. The beast stepped out of the shadows and revealed itself, it was a four legged creature with a jagged purple carapace and a large head connected to a small body. Selena gasped and Prince Rah took a step back.

"You two go now, I will take care of the beast." Kassadin said and he felt energy surging into his arm and suddenly, a large blade of energy burst forth from his hand. It glowed purple and extremely brightly. Prince Rah mounted his own horse, a jet back stallion. Kassadin turned to the beast and walked forward. The beast in return walked back. He was about to dash forward to overwhelm the cautious creature when he felt a sudden pain in his rib. He looked down and saw the tip of an ornate dagger sticking forth from this chest, dark blue blood running down his body.

"Papa! No!" he heard Selena shout as he fell to his knees. He looked down at the ground for a few moments and saw two black shoes walk in front of him. He looked up and saw Prince Rah, no longer clothed in elegant gold and white but instead deep purple and blue. His eyes were no longer a brilliant blue but a deep and glowing purple, covering all of his eyes. He knelt down and was eye level with Kassadin who was trembling in anger.

"There is no escaping the Void. No where is safe." his voice sounded eerily similar to the voice that he heard back in the Void. Kassadin tried to lunge forward and bring his blade into his neck but the Prince let forth a blast of energy from his mouth that knocked Kassadin back into the wall of his house, breaking through some of the brick and leaving him pinned. He laughed and turned to the Void creature. "Now you may kill him." the creature looked at the Prince and spoke in a strangely high pitched tone.

"Yes lord Malzahar." Malzahar walked away towards Selena who was crying in fear and anguish. He slapper he across the face to silence her.

"If you do not shut your pretty little mouth," he turned to Kassadin, "I'll force you to watch him be butchered alive." Selena wept silently now and Malzahar rode off with her. Kassadin shifted his gaze to the Void creature that was slowly creeping towards him. Suddenly it jumped forwards, Kassadin reacted quickly and brought his energy blade up and impaled the beast mid jump. It slid down the length of the blade and bumped against his hand, dead. The blade then retracted itself and the creature fell to the floor next to him. He brought himself out of the wall and wrenched the dagger free from his back and collapsed onto the ground.


	6. The Night Hunter

Chapter Six

The Night Hunter

Kassadin awoke with a start, the room he was in was dark and cold. He had a nightmare in which his daughter was taken from him by some vile man from the void and that we was stabbed and killed. He tried to sit up but felt an extreme pain in his chest. He recognized the pain immediately and fell back on his pillow in despair. "Selena!" he shouted and wept. He cried for what seemed like an hour before he regained some kind of control over himself.

"Hello?" he said aloud as he looked around the room he was in. It wasn't a room in his house. By the looks of it, he appeared to be in a cellar or basement. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark he saw large barrels of ale with the words "Targon Tavern Brew" burned into their sides. So I am in the tavern? he thought. How did I get here? He looked around again for some clue as to what had brought him here but found nothing except an ashtray with a few spent cigarettes in it. Next to the ashtray was the dagger that was plunged into his back. It was wickedly curved, just like a scimitar but in a dagger form, it had a purple hilt and a gem at the pommel which swirled with some kind of malevolent power. He reached for it but stopped when the wound in his ribs sent waves of pain throughout his body.

"Damn it." he swore and rested back into his pillow again. He heard many footsteps above him as the bar bustled with activity, he thought about yelling in hopes of them hearing, but he knew that somebody knew he was down here, and if they wanted to kill him they would already have done it. Again he tried to sit up. He pressed his hand do his wound and pulsed his energy into it, the pain was there but weaker and he was able to endure it and sit up. A wave of nausea hit him and he almost fainted but held strong.

"You have been asleep for a few days now, you should be more careful when you sit up. You could get seriously hurt." the last sentence was spoken ironically. Kassadin looked into the darkness from where her heard the voice but saw nothing. He couldn't hear anything either except for the sound of footsteps above. He brought forth the blade from his arm and lit the area around him in a purple light, again he looked towards where he heard the voice but this time he did indeed see someone. It was a woman, sitting in a chair with her left leg crossed over her right, clad in black leather with an extravagantly long pony tail.

"Who are you?" he spoke softly, not wanting the people upstairs to hear. The woman stood up and walked towards his bedside. She placed her hand gently against his forehead.

"Your fever has gone down, that blade you were stabbed with was poisoned. That strangely dressed man must have really wanted to kill you." She took her pale hand off of his forehead.

"He took my daughter." he said frankly.

"I saw that, I watched from the shadows the whole time, but I did not hear what you were discussing. I was tracking that beast you killed, they have been appearing all over Valoran and have been killing many innocent people." she drew up a chair and sat next to Kassadin who now looked into her eyes.

"Why did you not act?" He shouted and reached for her neck but she leaned back.

"I could not risk loosing the beast. It knew I was there and acted very wary."

"You could have saved my daughter!" he grabbed for her neck again and this time she let him. He held his large hand around her throat but then quickly let go. He wept again for his daughter, his wife and for his weakness.

"I may have been able to, but there was no guarantee. And if that beast had escaped it could have killed a dozen men, women and children. One life is not more valuable than another." She spoke gently and wiped a tear off of his check with her hand.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt you." Kassadin said as he looked into his hands. The woman smiled faintly at him.

"I know, do not worry."

"Can you tell me who you are?" he looked up into her dark brown eyes.

"My name is Shauna, Shauna Vayne." she bowed her head elegantly as she said her name. "I am a hunter of the men and beasts that plague the night." She grabbed a metal gauntlet from the floor and put it on, the large metal device upon it split open and turned into a small crossbow.

"Why?" Kassadin asked, he knew it was a stupid question but he wanted to keep her talking. She sighed and looked down at him.

"I am not at liberty to discuss it any further." she spoke grimly. Kassadin grabbed her hand and held it.

"I've lost my loved ones too, I know how you feel." Shauna rose out of her chair.

"You have no idea what I have been through!" her faced red with anger and her eyes were holding back tears. "I should-"

"When I was a child," Kassadin interrupted, "I was out alone in the yard in front of my house when the ground caved in right under my feet. I fell into a deep crevice that was underneath the lawn. I screamed for help and my father came. He tried to climb down to help me but as he climbed his foot slipped and I watched him fall to his death." he sighed. "I do not know how I survived the fall, maybe the dirt that was under me when I fell cushioned my fall, but I do not know."

Shauna looked up at him and he continued to speak. "When I was thirteen I ran away from home, my mother had been living in anguish ever since my father had died. She did not blame me, although I felt like she had vented out her sadness on me. I could not live out in the wilderness on my own, I tried but one night I was attacked by a pack of wolves and barely survived. They felt and understood my fear and sadness I think. But after they had gone I limped my way back home. It took me five days to find my way back and when I finally reached home I was greeted by the sight of my mother hanging from the second story balcony with a rope around her neck." Shauna gasped lightly at this. "there was a note on the front door. It said she was sorry for being such a bad mother and decided to do what she thought she deserved."

"Recently I had my wife taken from me, by that same man who took my daughter. He was an agent of the Void, just like I was. But I could not live with what the Void wanted me to do so I separated myself from it. That was the day before you found me." Kassadin looked back into his hands. "I am not saying that what I have been through is worse than what you have been through. I am just saying I understand."

Shauna let a tear go down her cheek and grabbed Kassadin's hand. "When I was a mere child a witch grew fond of my father, but he was a married man. His honor prevented him from committing such adultery and the witch broke into my house. I was hiding in closet, paralyzed with fear as the witch raped and killed my father. When she was done with him she..." Shauna choked up a bit and continued. "she called out to me, 'little girl come out or mommy is going to get hurt' she said. I was a cowered and did not move and she tortured her, ripping skin off of her bones, stabbing her, burning her... countless methods of torture. When the witch finished her off she lit the house on fire and told me that I could have saved them but I was too much of a coward to do anything. I barely escaped the fire. Ever since then I hunted down those who practiced the dark magics." she looked at Kassadin, "people like you."

Kassadin looked at her again. "I studied the dark arts, but I never used them. I just wanted to learn. Until I went into the Void that is, then I became this... monster." he gestured at his body. Shauna moved her hand to his chest.

"You are no monster. I-I never caught your name." She said and looked down towards her feet.

"My name is Kassadin." Shaua smiled.

"I could make you feel better..." she whispered. Kassadin turned towards her.

"How do you propose to do that?" Shauna sighed again and stood up. Kassadin watched as she moved her hands to the zipper of her jacket and pulled it down.

"No please, do not degrade yourself like that." Kassadin smiled.

"I'm sorry. I just... feel something with you." She took a few deep breaths and zipped herself up. "It was a moment of weakness." she regained her calm composure. Kassadin laughed and Shauna chuckled very lightly.

"Shauna," Kassadin's voice was serious. "I am still... I still love my wife very much. But she would not want me to live alone and unhappy, not after hearing what I had gone through when I was young." He looked up and smiled. "Maybe I will take you up on that offer some time. But not now, not while all of this is happening." Shauna blushed.

"I do not know what you are talking about." They both laughed.

The two spent the rest of the day together talking and laughing, Shauna declaring that she will watch over him while he recovers, not to the disappointment to Kassadin. She had the same passion for her work as his wife had with hers. She was a nurse.

It took a few days before Kassadin could walk again. With the help of Shauna he made it to one end of the cellar to the other, he tried it on his own but only made a few steps before he fell. When he hit the ground he reopened the wound a little and started bleeding on the floor. Shauna got on her knees and restitched it. Once she was done she tried to stand and slipped on his blood and dramatically landed on top of him. She laid there for a few moments and brought her face very close to his but he turned away.

The next day when Kassadin woke up he found that Shauna was gone. He stood up slowly and used the bed frame as support, walked towards one end of the room. Using chairs as supports he was able to safely make it. He began to walk, unassisted, to the other end of the room. He stumbled a few times and almost fell once but he made it almost the whole way across.

Suddenly a massive wave of energy toppled him off of his feet, he slid across the ground leaving a trail of blood as the energy physically manifested itself into a black ball in the center of the room. It hummed gently as it grew and grew and suddenly shrank and disappeared, leaving an extremely beautiful woman standing defiantly with her chest exposed and a glowing symbol in Icathian in between her large breasts.

She looked at Kassadin and growled. She gestured with her hand and lifted him off of the ground using telekinesis and floated him over to her. "Are you the one they call Malzahar?" she asked, her voice echoed off of itself and her eyes were a glowing purple.

"No, I am Kassadin. A victim of the monster called Malzahar.

"Liar!" she screamed and pressed her middle and index finger into his wound, breaking the skin that was slowly building over it. Kassadin writhed in agony as she mercilessly twisted her fingers in the wound. "You did this to me!" she screamed again and took his hand and pressed it against the mark on her chest and a wound to her breast, directly over her heart.

"No! I did not!" he protested but she threw him back and sent a black orb flying into his chest, breaking a few of his ribs. Again he screamed out in agony.

"Do not lie to me, fiend! I felt the darkness inside of you! I felt it from the faraway land on Ionia and I have come here to return the favor." She rose a finger and bolts of black energy jolted around her hand. She screamed out and pointed her hand towards Kassadin and the energy burst forth into black bolts of lightning. The blast took a sudden shift to the right and struck the wall a few feet away from Kassadin. He opened his eyes to see that the woman was lying on the floor and Shauna was standing, with he crossbow loaded, over top of her.

The woman pushed Shauna off of her with her magic and stood up. She launched a fierce blast of darkness at her but Shauna tumbled over a chair and shot a bolt into her arm. It went clean through and pinned itself on the wall. The woman shrieked out of anger and recklessly sent orbs of darkness directly at Shauna but she was nimble and rolled, jumped and feigned past them, the orbs knocked over a stack of barrels that were behind Shauna causing a great deal of noise. She raced towards her, dodging more blasts, when she got close enough to land a kick the woman caught it and threw her back. Shauna tried to stand but the woman pushed her back down and bound her arms to the ground with dark energies.

"Did you really thing you could kill me? I refuse to die until I destroy you, Malzahar!" she roared and Shauna looked to Kassadin and he shrugged lightly.

"This is not Malzahar! Malzahar is the one who injured him!" Shauna pleaded and the woman snorted at her.

"You cannot fool me, I felt his energy. That dark mysterious energy that only him and I share." Her eyes glowed even brighter with purple light as she channeled two orbs of energy in each of her hands. Suddenly she stopped. She walked over to Kassadin and crouched down next to him. Shauna screamed and kicked in protest but she was ignored.

"So you do speak the truth. I feel him now. His power is far greater than yours." She looked to the east.

"He hails in the forgotten city of Icathia. Deep in the bowels of the eastern desert." Kassadin said and the woman looked down at him. "He has my daughter there."

"I care not for your daughter. I care only for power and revenge." she stood looking down at her breasts she placed both of her hands on them and her purple and black garb stretched itself and covered them back up. "When I am done with him," she spoke to Shauna now, "I shall come back to see that you and I fight once again." She turned back to Kassadin, "My name is Syndra. You should learn it soon for I shall rule all of Valoran one day." She stepped back a couple steps. Her snow white hair started to rise and she began to float into the air and suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.

The bindings on Shauna's wrists disappeared and she ran to Kassadin who was bleeding profusely. She pulled stitching once again from one of the pouches on her belt and immediately began to stitch the wound back up. Kassadin put a heavy hand on her shoulder and she looked up. He was smiling. "I almost made it, I was so close." Shauna looked at him as proud parent would look at a child and smiled. Then Kassadin uttered a cry in pain as she set his broken rib.

"I think this is going to set you back a little." Shauna and Kassadin locked eyes passionately and her heart started beating almost audibly. They both leaned forward and felt each others breaths against their lips. Shauna turned quick towards the stairs to the main floor and the Innkeeper was standing there with a wooden club.

"Aye what was all that commotion?" He looked towards them but could not see them very well for it was still dark.

"Kassadin fell again and fell against that stack of barrels again," she pointed towards the pile of barrels that had fallen over during the fight. He grumbled and swore and walked back up the stairs. Kassadin could hear her heart beating as the door upstairs closed and it got quiet once again. She turned to face him and Kassadin made no move to avoid it. She wrapped her hands around his blue tinted neck and met his lips with hers. They kissed for minutes and would have kissed forever if Shauna had not pulled herself back.

"I've never kissed a man like that before." she said as she looked down at the ground blushing. Kassadin smiled a broad smile and held her hand. After a few moments Shauna got back to tending his wounds.


	7. Seed of Darkness

Chapter Seven

Seed of Darkness

[**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: this chapter is going to be **extremely sexually graphic **(not in an erotic way{hopefully}) do to the nature of its contents and the extremeness of the situation for the characters involved, if such a thing disturbs you I will leave a summary at the bottom, the chapter is going to be rather short anyway but I wanted to make it separate so that I could put in this message without interrupting the story because I love you guys.]

Deep in the tunnels underneath the great ruin of Icathia, Malzahar sat bare-chested in waiting. His hood and robe top were cast off and lying on the floor nearby, he sat in a royally decorated throne, with deep velvet cushions and an ebony frame, rubies and sapphires doting around the edges of the tediously carved designs of the chair. The arm rests were capped in the black ivory of the boars of the southern jungles. The cavern he sat in was not a cavern at all but an ancient Icathian burial mound, richly decorated for a prince or king. The old inhabitant was thrown into the abyss behind him, directly into the portal that leads straight into the heart of the Void. Beside him was another of the purple four legged hounds of the void, sleeping against the side of the throne.

A smirk went across Malzahar's face and one second later a black pulse of energy rocked the burial mound, the void creature awoke and leaped back behind the throne. A black mass of bursting electricity and energy grew in the center of the room a couple yards in front of Malzahar who sat and watched patiently. The ball of energy grew quickly and suddenly shrunk and Syndra stood, dozens of small orbs of black energy orbiting around her.

"Finally!" Malzahar spoke charismatically as he stood up and clapped his hands, "I see you got a little side-tracked with my friend Kassadin!" he smiled at her and effortlessly tilted his head to the side to avoid a sphere of darkness, the sphere flew fast and rammed hard into the wall, tunneling many feet deep into the pressurized sand. "You missed he jeered as he moved to avoid another, slowly moving towards her. Two more came and he caught both of them and crushed them in his hands, causing a plethora of blacks, purples and blues to burst forth. Syndra took a step backwards and threw all of the orbs at Malzahar who simply walked through them. They went completely through him and left no mark at all upon his body. She kept walking back in fear as he came forward, his grin growing and his eyes leaving trails of of purple energy in their wake.

Syndra backed into the wall and screamed and unleashed all of her power. The room shook and quaked with power as she pulled off pieces of the ceiling and walls and slammed them onto Malzahar, she kept burying him with debris and after a few moments of her ruthless barrage she stopped, leaned over and vomited. She looked at the pile of rubble and took a step forward. A hand, coated in a purple energy burst through the stone and sand and grabbed her leg.

Malzahar rose forth from it, completely unscathed. He lifted Syndra by her leg and she cried in pain as she bent at an awkward angle. He threw her into his throne with great power, shattering it to pieces. Syndra stood up but Malzahar was already upon her, his grin was gone.

"You are mine, Syndra there is no escaping." he pressed his hand against her lower stomach and Syndra felt a strange tingle of energy and suddenly she felt none, all of her magic was drained from her and she felt the burdens of conventional humanity for the first time. She looked into his eyes and he smiled again and pushed all of her magical energy back into her, launching her against the wall. She hit it hard and Malzahar suspended her there with his telekinesis. She tried to struggle but was completely immobilized. Again he pressed his hand against her lower stomach but this time his hand phased through her skin and she moaned in half pleasure and half pain. He reached further into her and grabbed hold of her ovaries.

"Oh god!"she screamed in sheer agony as he grabbed the most precious and sensitive part of her body. He laughed and twisted them to the side out of spite. She cried this time like a newborn as blood slowly began to trickle down her leg. He pulled his hand free and dropped her onto the ground and she screamed when lower body hit the solid floor. Immediately she brought her hands down to herself and felt the blood gently flowing over her fingers. She wept out of pure pain and Malzahar brought himself down to her level.

"Syndra, you listen to me. You are to bare my child," he paused when she looked up to him with a visage of pure grief, he dropped his smile but kept on speaking. "I chose you as my queen because you are most beautiful and powerful woman in all of Runterra." he rubbed his hand against the side of her breast and she moaned softly as more tears ran down her face. "When my seed is planted you will feel a new power, a power stronger than anything you could imagine. But it will be dormant. Until the child is born all of your magic shall be gone. And once you give birth, you will have what you want most."

"Revenge!" she spat with all the courage she could master.

"No." he smiled, "I can read your emotions much better than you can. You desire my power. And you will have it too, you shall be me equal. But with your new powers you will not be able to hurt me, for they are my powers and I am bestowing them upon you." Syndra began crying again. "are you ready?" he held out a hand gently but Syndra slapped it away.

"You bastard! You son of a bitch! I hope your own Void takes you and destroys you!" she screamed.

"I insist that you take my hand this time." he brought his hand up but Syndra slapped it again.

"You'll have to take my virginity by force, you sick bastard." Malzahar frowned and lifted her up with his telekinesis. He snapped his fingers and a bed colored deep velvet with silken sheets appeared he dropped her upon it and waved his hands, chains came forth from the frame of the bed and bound her wrists and ankles. He cut off her clothes with a dagger and gazed upon her for a moment.

"You are truly beautiful, Syndra." he said with awe as he admired her large breasts and the muscles of her abdomen and how they flowed erotically down to her crotch. He knelt down on the bed next to her and placed his hand against her womanhood and leaned down to put him mouth on her breast. She cried out in pleasure but tears ran down her face for she was in a state of utter despair. He removed his hand from her crotch and put his fingers in her mouth. She coughed and spat but his fingers stayed. She felt him readjusting himself and saw that he was level with her now. Suddenly she felt him pressing into her and she screamed out in horror as he slid further in and broke her.

It ended quickly, he suddenly stopped thumping against her and leaned back and she felt him eject his seed inside her, it felt disgusting and unnatural. He fell on top of her soon after and kissed her neck. She brought her hands back to her woman hood and felt a mixture of blood and other fluids oozing out of her and she wept again. Malzahar slowly staggered off of her and wiped the filth off of his pride against her leg, adding insult to injury. She watched him as he walked away to where his trousers were and slid them back up. He sat next to her and held her bound hand in his.

"This could have been much easier. I could have made this an enjoyable experience for you, but..." he looked at her she was not crying any more, only looking at him. "but alas you would not let me." he kissed her on the cheek and walked away. "I hope you can forgive me someday my love." he walked out into a dark hallway. "Oh" he added "there is a cauldron in the back left corner of the room, it has water in it. Feel at liberty to use it to wash yourself or to bathe, it is large enough to fit an elegantly built woman like yourself." Syndra felt the bindings slide free and just decided to sleep.

[**SUMMARY**

Syndra comes to confront Malzahar and to destroy him for ruining her hopes of living a normal life, he exhibits his full powers for the first time and quite one-sidedly defeats her. He offers her the chance to become his lover willingly and to bare his child but she declines so he forces himself upon her, to her dismay, she feels herself being impregnated and lies in bed emotionless after the deed is done.]


End file.
